Troy Hewitt
Troy "Aether" Hewitt Living in Seattle. Hired by Flying Lab Software in November, 2005. A strange man. Job Description Director of Community Relations for Pirates of the Burning Sea. Biography Before entering the gaming industry, Troy worked in the field of Social Services and political activism. Coordinating programs that empowered teens to make a difference in their community, Troy held several key leadership positions within the human services community, establishing successful youth-as-leaders initiatives that resulted in the election of literally hundreds of teens to positions on a variety of decision making councils and boards. An avid gamer in his spare time, the introduction of Ultima Online served as a turning point, providing incredible insight into the amazingly complicated world of MMO’s. Shortly after joining UO, Troy began spending time coordinating large-scale community building events, creating vast cooperative, player-run systems of government, and a developing passion for the art of community building within the often volatile online environment. In time, Troy was selected to be an official Origin volunteer, in the position of Ancient Seer. For three and a half years, Troy created live events and managed other volunteers within the world of Ultima Online. With the experience garnered from the MMO world as a player, a change in career paths was only a matter of time. That change wouldn’t happen until 2004, when Troy was hired as a member of the Customer Support Team for The Matrix Online. It was as GM Asher, that he was tasked with the introduction of simple events for the MxO beta community. Shortly thereafter, Troy was transferred to The Matrix Online Community Team and given the title Online Community Specialist. As 'Aether', Troy worked in tandem with Community Lead Dan 'Walrus' Myers to share MxO updates and critical information with the community. Troy was also responsible for fostering relationships with both new and existing MxO fansites, and to highlight the endeavors of The Matrix Online's community of beta players. In addition, Troy continued to coordinate small-scale live event efforts, culminating in a large, world-altering event nicknamed the "Eyepocalypse". The event was created as a way to celebrate the end of The Matrix Online’s beta phase, and the first time that characters like Morpheus, The Merovingian, Agent Gray and Niobe were introduced to the community as real-time, interactive personalities. There were massive eyes floating overhead, a debilitating flame virus spreading amongst the populace, and non-stop attacks from a furious, and determined horde of Agents. "draw your character" contest. Seen here wearing his 'happy hat' and doing the 'dinner time jig'.]] Leaders from the Machine Organization threatened great harm to humanity if they did not follow their explicit orders. Of course, humanity wouldn’t. Well, maybe didn’t is a better way to say it. Alright, so they couldn’t… deemed as defiant, humanity was treated to the horrifying screams and accompanied visual of their bodies being crumpled, en masse, like so much waste-paper. The acclaim brought about by the end of beta event inspired WBIE and Monolith to introduce the Live Events Initiative. Troy was tapped to fill the role of Community Events Lead, responsible for the creation and training of the MxO Live Events Team. These digital actors, or ‘Imps’, were tasked with presenting the various personas of the characters made famous within the plotlines of the Matrix franchise. With a global audience and amazingly high expectations, the Live Events Team has maintained a level of professionalism so high, that they have literally redefined the art of interactive storytelling in the MMO arena. Working in tandem with famed comic book author Paul Chadwick, Troy continues to find new and inventive ways to bring the signature intrigues of the Matrix to life in the MMO environment. Beyond creating strange occurrences and unexpected interactions, The Live Event Team for The Matrix Online seeks to inspire, support and maintain a story-environment so immersive, that players transcend participant status, and become co-stars, co-authors and co-conspirators in the further evolution of story that is The Matrix Online. Poetry <FLSAether> My pirate Haiku <FLSAether> I am a pirate. <FLSAether> But I have no booty. <FLSAether> Flat chested, also. Quotes '''The Kitten Story' <FLSAether> So once, my brother and I, when we were little kids mind you, got a kitten from a lady in front of the supermarket. kittens are so difficult to discipline <FLSAether> They were free, and really cute. haha, continue <FLSAether> So we took it home, and played with it until mother came home. <FLSAether> We were SO panicked. oh noes no parental permission + new pet = dead aether hahaha <FLSAether> So I said to my brother "Hide it!" and I ran to intercept mom at the door while he hid the kitten. oh no don't tell me he hid it in the microwave <FLSAether> So mom took us out to dinner, and when we got back, I asked my brother where the cat was. <FLSAether> And he turned white- "Um, I stuck it in the freezer." OMG! ... ffs! oh dear i dont want to hear this:( poor kitten lol <FLSAether> I was sick about it.. so I ran to the freezer and we took the lil' frozen thing out. was it still allive? <FLSAether> And my brother said "OMG! Gasoline melts ice!" ... i love kitties:( your brother's in a small padded room somewhere isn't he? <FLSAether> So we went to the garage, and put the tiniest drop of gasoline on its tongue.. <FLSAether> And it came alive! oh man haha. no it didn't lies:( <FLSAether> It freaked out, and ran across the garage, up the wall... hahahah! <FLSAether> Where it stopped, frozen in its tracks. <FLSAether> I guess it ran out of gas. lmfao thats a terrible joke <FLSAether> haha haha indeed it is you had me going for a minute <FLSAether> That never happened of course :) * fowlplaychiken sucker punches aether * fowlplaychiken hurls a battalion of PETA activists at him * Xaphod slaps Aether about the face with some Feta bastard! lol <FLSAether> But imagine telling that story to a barfull of people- getting really into the telling- people get horrified. omfg <FLSAether> Horror, quickly followed by a round of punching and kicking. The Cat Story 17:25 FLSAether: Bunnies can be mean sometimes. 17:25 FLSAether: And bite you. 17:25 CypherRaven: Aether? 17:25 NamoricLOA: yeah, just ask King Arthur.. he got bit by a bunny 17:25 FLSAether: A question in the back? 17:25 KiraCatgirl: My cat is an evil vicious daemon who attacks you with little provocation 17:26 * CypherRaven waves his hand around like Arnold Horshack 17:26 NamoricLOA: .. of course... the bunnies we raised were for eating... so... they were only cute until they were in the stew 17:26 FLSAether: My cat never really attacked, at least not in the traditional sense. 17:26 NamoricLOA: then they were yummy 17:26 KiraCatgirl: what exactly is the traditional sense...? 17:26 FLSAether: She liked to stick her kitty-parts in everyone's face all the time. I mean, people like cats and all, but no one likes kitty parts in the face. 17:26 KiraCatgirl: ... ah 17:26 NamoricLOA: Yeah... like.. Nunchuka's? that's kinda traditional 17:26 KiraCatgirl: We have a cat who does that 17:27 NamoricLOA: if your like... a ninja 17:27 NamoricLOA: a ninja cat 17:27 FLSAether: She pees in the toilet, taught herself. 17:27 NamoricLOA: maybe she can teach my youngest son .... 17:27 *** ZOLA has joined #burningsea. 17:28 FLSAether: It would be an unfortunate situation if she taught your youngest son how to say hello using kitty parts. 17:28 NamoricLOA: Polly!!!! Is FLSAether the man? 17:28 Polly: NamoricLOA: Aether is the man. 17:28 FLSAether: ! Another Cat Story 13:18 FLSAether: That reminds me of a story involving my cat, and my two mice. 13:18 FLSAether: One was black, one was white. I called them Salt and Peppa. 13:18 Xaphod: not a cat story again 13:18 FLSAether: In any case, I left them in their little plastic house, sitting on the coffeetable. 13:19 FLSAether: When I came home, the little house was knocked over, and my cat was sittig there licking her lips. 13:19 FLSAether: I was so sad, Salt and Peppa were eaten. 13:19 FLSAether: Then I noticed that a food dish was running around on the floor. 13:19 bayard: hehe 13:19 FLSAether: And both of the mice were inside. 13:19 Xaphod: aww 13:20 bayard: yay a happy ending. 13:20 FLSAether: I know! It was a very special episode of Life with Aether. Interviews Outside Developer Logs A Day in the Life of Aether (Coldfront) Category: PotBS Developers Category: IRC Addicts